130 



figures,* and an Oedipus, and a sphynx ; which all of 

 them formerly belonged to the tomb of Ovid.t These 

 are specimens from which, without temerity, we may 

 form a very advantageous judgment of the ability of 

 the masters who executed them ; but those discovered 

 at Ilerculaneum, disclose, beyond all others, a hap- 

 piness of design and boldness of expression, that could 

 proceed only from the hands of the most accomplished 

 artist. The picture of Theseus vanquishing the Mi- 

 notaur, that of the birth of Telephus, that of Chiron 

 and Achilles,^ and that of Pan and Olympe, present 

 innumerable beauties to all who have discernment, 

 and strike most the eye of the more intelligent be- 

 holder. If indeed we examine the countenance of 

 Achilles in the original picture itself, and not in the 

 imperfect impression published of ir, we shall perceive 

 in it something inimitably just and fine in its air, energy 

 and expression ; every thing contributes to display 

 the young hero's ardour for glory ; and he looks with 

 such eagerness and impatience on his master as if he 

 wanted but an opportunity to acquire it at all ha. 

 zards. There wt i re found also, among the ruins of 

 that city, four capital pictures, wherein beauty of de- 

 sign seems to vie with the most skilful management of 

 the pencil. They appear to be of an earlier date, 

 than those we have spoken of, which belong to the 

 first century ; a period when painting, as Pliny in- 

 forms us, was in its decline. What then are we to 

 think of the paintings of Zeuxis and Apclfes, when 

 r ven this art itself, in its very decline, was capable of 

 exhibiting such productions as these, which, however 

 justly exciting our praise, see in to have been but of 

 an inferior kind, when compared to the noble per- 

 formance of those great masters ? This accounts for 

 the silence observed by Pliny, and the other historians, 

 in relation to them. 



* In the possession of Cardinal AlexanderAlbani. 



f In the Villa Alticri. 



I These two are, perhaps, the performances of Parrhasius, 



